1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an imaging apparatus and an imaging method and, in particular, to a technique for varying the usage of face detection based on scene recognition results.
2. Description of the Related Art
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2003-244530 discloses a digital still camera in which a judgment of whether or not a set photographic mode is appropriate with respect to a scene is made based on a digital image signal and an EV value.
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2003-344891 discloses a photographic mode auto-setting camera that sets a photographic mode of a camera based on output information from a face recognizing device and a state detecting device. The camera described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2003-344891 automatically sets a camera photographic mode based on output information that is subject movement, imaging magnification, or subject distance. In addition, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2003-344891 provides a description of not only detecting a face of a person, but also distinguishing among a portrait mode, a multi-person mode, and a group photo mode as photographic modes depending on the number of persons and photographic magnification.